CHI 322: Self and Society in Chinese Culture
Instructor: Matthew Wells
Office: 1035 Patterson Office Tower (POT)
Office hours: TBA
Email: Matt.Wells@uky.edu (preferred method of contact)
Phone: (859) 257-1094
Day/Time: TBD
Overview: The idea that Chinese culture values society at the expense of the individual has
become cliché, particularly in the West, where Chinese “collectivism” is almost always seen to
contrast with Western “individualism.” However, traditional Chinese writers and artists have
always admired a person’s ability to remain true to their own nature and convey their
individuality to others. For these poets, painters, and philosophers, the self was a category with
important philosophical, social, and political meaning that required constant redefinition and
affirmation. This course will survey Chinese art and literature from the Warring States period to
the modern era by examining the fundamental issue of individuality, the nature of the self, and its
relationship—as it is variously defined—to larger social categories such as family and society.
This topic will be our window into the rich tradition of Chinese arts and literature. Course
readings will include philosophical and religious texts as well as literature, historical writing, and
material culture in its various forms (painting, 3-dimensional art, architecture).
Course goals and objectives: To survey Chinese art and literature from the Warring States
period to the modern era and examine the issues of individuality, the nature of the self, and the
relationship between the self and larger social categories such as family and society.
Learning Outcomes: After taking this class, students will be able to identify and work with
basic discourses about identity, individuality, and self-representation, understand them within the
context of Chinese history and culture, and track changes and continuities in these discourses
over time. They will be able to synthesize and analyze material related to broad categories such
as “self” and “society,” and apply this analysis within different cultural contexts and paradigms.
Students will also deepen their understanding of Chinese intellectual, literary, and cultural
history and be able to challenge conventional wisdom in this field of study.
Course Requirements:
Attendance and Participation: All students must show up having finished the reading and
prepared to discuss it. Participation is a significant portion of your grade, so thoughtful
comments and questions are strongly encouraged.
Student Facilitated Discussion: Each student is responsible for the presentation and
discussion of one set of assigned readings. Depending on class size, several students may
be assigned to the same readings. In such instances, students will facilitate class
discussion as a group. Students will prepare a presentation of the material and lead
discussion on the assigned date. Simply summarizing the readings will result in a failing
grade. Instead, pick one or more of the relevant themes in the set of assigned readings to
develop and present to the class. You should also provide a handout for your classmates
and the instructor. The presentation should be brief, approximately 10-15 minutes, after
which you should lead class discussion. All students are expected to do the readings and
participate, regardless of whether or not it is a student’s turn to facilitate discussion.
Weekly Reaction Papers: Each week you will turn in a reaction paper of approximately
two pages. Your paper should briefly summarize the reading, but largely focus on
exploring a salient theme, structural feature, or implication of the reading. Your paper
will be graded for style as well as content and will be expected to be free of significant
grammatical and spelling errors. Students who require writing help are encouraged to
visit the writing lab on the 5th floor of the William T. Young library or make an
appointment with me for guidance.
Research Paper: The final project for this class will be a 10 page research paper. In your
paper, you will be expected to mingle the theoretical secondary reading with the primary
documents. An abstract of your paper will be required in advance.
Grading Procedure: Grades for this course are not curved and represent a raw percentage score.
Final grades will be determined according to the following scale:
A= 90-100, B= 80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, E=59 and below.
Reaction Papers: 40% (total)
Attendance and Participation: 20%
Discussion Facilitation: 20%
Final paper: 20%
Mid-term evaluation: Students will be provided with a Midterm Evaluation of course
performance based on criteria in the syllabus up to that date.
Final examination information: The course does not have a final exam.
Class Policies:
 Assignments submitted late without prior approval will not be graded.
 If you have or believe you have a physical, learning, or psychological disability that may
impair your ability to complete this course successfully, you are encouraged to contact
the Disability Resource Center, 257-2754, room 2 Alumni Gym, or email
jkarnes@uky.edu.
 While accidents occasionally happen, "the computer ate my homework" is not a valid
excuse for late assignments. Be sure to back up your work on a thumb drive or local
account. Printing is available at different locations on campus; emailed assignments will
not be graded.
 Cell phones can be disruptive and rude. Please turn them off before class begins; if your
phone goes off you will be asked to leave the class.
 Do not text in my class. If you text, you will be asked to leave the class.
 Laptops are not allowed except with a letter from the Disability Resource Center.
 Excused absences: An absence may only be excused due to serious illness, the passing of
a family member, or with the consent of the instructor.
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Make-up opportunities: Students missing coursework due to an excused absence will be
given an opportunity to make up the assignment or an equivalent assignment.
Verification of absences: Students missing work due to an excused absence bear the
responsibility of informing the instructor about their excused absence within one week
following the period of the excused absence (except where prior notification is required)‚
and of making up the missed work.
Classroom behavior: The university, college and department has a commitment to respect
the dignity of all and to value differences among members of our academic
community. There exists the role of discussion and debate in academic discovery and the
right of all to respectfully disagree from time-to-time. Students clearly have the right to
take reasoned exception and to voice opinions contrary to those offered by the instructor
and/or other students (S.R. 6.1.2). Equally, a faculty member has the right -- and the
responsibility -- to ensure that all academic discourse occurs in a context characterized by
respect and civility. Obviously, the accepted level of civility would not include attacks of
a personal nature or statements denigrating another on the basis of race, sex, religion,
sexual orientation, age, national/regional origin or other such irrelevant factors.
Academic integrity, cheating, and plagiarism: Plagiarism and cheating are very serious in
a university setting. Plagiarism may be defined as the submission of the work of others
for academic credit without indicating the source. Cheating may be defined as
misrepresenting the work of others as one's own. Students caught cheating on
assignments or plagiarizing material for papers may face disciplinary action according
to University Senate Rules (6.3.1 & 6.3.2), available at the following website:
http://www.uky.edu/USC/New/rules_regulations/index.htm. Please talk to me or consult the
university’s website at: http://www.uky.edu/Ombud/Plagiarism.pdf if you have any
questions about this important issue.
Course Material: Underlined readings are available on e-reserve on Blackboard or in the
Course Packet (CP). Note that you are responsible for ALL of the reading for a given week.
Required Texts
Burton Watson, Chuang-Tzu, Basic Writings
Donald Munro, Individualism and Holism: Studies in Confucian and Taoist
Values
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Course packet and online reserve
Library Reserve
Kim-chong Chong, The Moral Circle and the Self (MC)
Class Schedule
1.
Course overview
Read: Munro, “Introduction”; Julian Jaynes, “Consciousness”; Charles Taylor, “The Self
in Moral Space”; Powers, “The Politics of Personhood”
2.
Definitions and Controlling Concepts
Read: Analects of Confucius, excerpts; Munro, “Individual and Group in Confucianism,”
“Punishment and Dignity”; Yuet Keung Lo, “Finding the Self in the Analects”(MC);
3. Early Confucian Ideas of the Self
Read: Xunzi, excerpts; Mencius, excerpts; Munro, “On the Matter of the Mind”; Karyn
Lai, “Confucian Moral Cultivation: Some Parallels with Musical Training”(MC)
4.
Good or Evil? A Debate on Human Nature
Read: Watson, Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu), entire; Munro, “Self and Whole in Chuang-Tzu”
5.
Early Daoist Concepts of the Individual
Read: Yang Xiong “Self Cultivation”; Wang Chong “Forming Character,” “Original
Nature”; Grace Fong, “Gender and Subjectivity in the Han Fu”; Cao Pi on literary theory;
Ban Zhao, “Admonitions for Women”
6.
Humanity in Han Philosophy
Read: Vimalakirti, excerpts; Kalupahana, “The Human Personality”; Payne,
Individuation and Awakening”
7.
Buddha Nature
Read: Liu Shao, The Study of Human Abilities, excerpts (CP); Liu Yiqing, “Worthy
Beauties”, “Grading Excellence”
8.
Evaluating Individual Worth
Read: Liu Yiqing “The Free and Unrestrained”; Xi Kang “Dispelling Self-Interest”;
Munro, “Individualist Expressions”, “Individualism and the Neo-Taoist Movement”
9.
Naturalism and Human Nature
Read: Read: Sima Qian “Letter to Ren An”; Cao Pi’s autobiography; Xi Kang’s “Letter
to Shan Tao”; Ge Hong’s autobiography; Ban Zhao, “Authorial Postface”; Durrant, “The
Autobiographical Writing of Sima Qian”
10.
In Their Own Words: Letters and Autobiographies
Read: Ge Hong, Traditions of Divine Transcendents, excerpts; Liu Yiqing, “Reclusion
and Disengagement”; Munro, “The Hidden Hero”; Campany, “Adepts and Their
Communities”
11.
The Transcendent Self: Hermits and Immortals
Read: Selections of Chinese Poetry; Kang-I Sun Chang, “The Unmasking of Tao Qian”;
Stephen Owen, “The Self’s Perfect Mirror”
12.
Poetry, individual “Will”, and individual identity
Read: Munro, “Subjectivity in Liu Tsung-chou”, “The Family Network”, “NeoConfucian Individualism”
13. Song Neo-Confucianism
Read: Lu Xun “Preface to A Call to Arms,” “Kong Yiji”; Ding Ling “Miss Sophia’s
Diary”; Munro, “Romantic Individualism in Modern Chinese Literature”
14.
May 4th Writers and New Questions of Self Identity
Read: Maxine Hong Kingston The Woman Warrior;
15.
Being “Chinese” Beyond China
Read: The RZA, The Wu-Tang Manual, excerpts
16.
Concluding discussion and paper topic discussion
RESEARCH PAPER SHALL BE DUE NO LATER THAN THE SCHEDULED TIME FOR
THE FINAL EXAM!!!